The former research chief of Media General has followed that company’s former COO to Verance Corporation to take on the brand-new position of VP/Head of Research.
Lucy Hughes is already settling in to the role at Verance, which is a key player in content measurement as part of the next-generation TV standard, ATSC 3.0.
Hughes reports directly to Verance CEO Nil Shah and joins ex-Media General COO Deb McDermott, who was recently retained by Verance to introduce the next-generation benefits of Verance Aspect, part of the new ATSC 3.0 standard, to broadcasters in today’s ATSC 1.0 environment.
In her new position, Hughes will be responsible for heading research efforts for Verance Aspect, which delivers first-party audience measurement on any device and provides analytics on a platform that augments this first-party data with third-party, cross-screen psychographic, demographic and other data.
“Lucy is one of the broadcast industry’s foremost thought leaders when it comes to cross-platform consumer and market research insights, and we are excited to now have her as part of our team,” Shah said. “She brings to us a wealth of experience in defining the next-generation, multi-screen, direct-to-consumer media landscape and, along with Deb and her team, will play a vital role in working with broadcasters in the testing and immediate implementation of our Aspect content measurement and enhancement solution.”
Hughes added, “I am thrilled to join Verance and to be closely involved with the roll out of this important new next-generation ATSC 3.0 technology, which comes at such a critical juncture in the evolution of the industry. Aspect will give broadcasters the ability to instantly play in a new media world where personalization, on-demand capabilities and convenience serve as the three primary pillars.”
As VP/Research at Media General, Hughes directed the research, analytics and insights across news, programming, consumer and ad sales for 72 stations and four different Nielsen measurement systems.
